Rayleigh, London Metropolitan Archives

Yesterday I went to Rayleigh in Essex for a business meeting. It is a lovely little town.

I was thinking of popping in to see people from DCK on the way home, but they didn't return my calls, so I went to the London Metropolitan Archives on my way back across London. I was looking for baptism and similar records for my ancestor Richard who was born in 1835 or the workhouse records for his father James - who died in the workhouse in 1849. It appears the workhouse records I need are not in the archives - there is a gap from 1845 to 1851. With Richard I do not know which parish he was baptised in. His sisters were baptised in a new church built in 1837, so I need to trace where the family were living before then.

I also looked for Maria's side in Woolwich - no joy there either

Car Service

Had the car service done today. Despite the dire predictions of MOT test failure by the dealership a few months ago there was nothing serious wrong with it. We need a couple of tyres soon though which we can get done at our leisure. I think we'll avoid the main dealer now: they were trying to get us to replace the car to avoid paying for major work - or maybe hoping we'd ask them to do the work even though it wasn't needed.

I walked to the garage from the town - which was about 2 miles. It was a lovely sunny day so I was a bit warm when I got there!

Hospital

We went to see the doctor today, at his clinic in Alton. He is now going to schedule surgery as he has an opinion from all of his colleagues: but we have to wait to get an appointment from the hospital. He can't book us in himself.

Woolmer Forest Historical Society

Yesterday I went to the May meeting of the Woolmer Forest Historical Society. On the way in I met my ex-father in law. It turned out he had come along to present a file to the WFHS. The file contained the details of the war memorial in the town; the fund raising and construction of it.

We then had a lecture on "Jane Austen's Chawton" which was an interesting over-view of Chawton and Alton around 1809-1817 when Jane Austen lived in Chawton. 

Hounslow

Went for a pleasant business meeting in Hounslow today. It would have been a pleasant drive too, were it not for the 10 mile queue to join the M25 from the M3. There had been an accident - three HGVs decided to drive into each other just before the exit. It took me over an hour to do this section of the journey. As usual the traffic bulletin on the radio was wrong - they said the accident had been cleared, so I contined on my way. If they had said the accident had been cleared but there was 10 miles of standing traffic waiting to go by it then I could have taken another route and missed it.

Roaming after the Romans and Little Birdies

We went out for our usual walk on Sunday afternoon. We had a mission this time though. There is a Roman Road that runs from Neatham (near Holybourne, outside Alton) to Chichester (or vice versa) via Iping. It crosses over the Blackmoor Golf Course near us and joins the lane near Oakhanger by the Satellite Ground Station. Before we set out we researched the route, looking at the County Archaeological Records to find out what they knew and comparing that to the Ordnance Survey map.
The road starts at Iping, which is near Midhurst and then exists as the main road in the Longmoor Army Camp and then was visible many years ago south of Woolmer Pond. It then crosses the main road (A325) and bends slightly, passing Blackmoor and Oakhanger as it heads North. Longmoor Army Camp is MoD property and apparently the Woolmer Pond section is no longer visible. Most of the rest is on private land except for where it emerges from the golf course. It crosses near Blackmoor House which is where the Selborne Cup was found.

Map

Location Data

OS X (Eastings) 477180
OS Y (Northings) 134680
Nearest Post Code GU35 9JD
Lat (WGS84) N51:06:22 (51.106233)
Long (WGS84) W0:53:56 (-0.898970)
LR SU771346
mX -100072
mY 6606829

We walked over the course (on the byway/footpath) until we reached the junction with the Oakhanger Road. There are some ponds here. During our research we had found that they were Medieval fish ponds associated with Oakhanger Monastery. This was odd as we could find no other references to a Monastery in the area. There is a Priory at Selborne, so maybe this is what was meant. The houses here are in a circular enclosure with a bank and ditch round it, so maybe the Monastery was actually inside this bank and ditch.
There was no sign of the Roman Road, just the straight path in alignment with the Oakhanger Road which runs across the front of the houses alongside the fish ponds.
We walked back over the golf course. The line of the road is visible from the public footpath in the distance as a line of trees and bushes crossing the course.
We will have to look into some of the other public locations.
As we came back I saw some odd birds on the course. I only had my phone with me, not a decent camera, so the pictures are a bit grainy. I haven't identified the birds yet.

Andover, Company set up

Yesterday (Friday) I went to Andover for my second interview. It seemed okay at the time and they ended the meeting by giving me a box of sample products to take away. Attached to the box was the postcard above. Inside were samples of teabags, infusions and instant chocolate drink. On the back of the card was a note.

I met the HR woman who had seen the feedback from the on-line testing. She thanked me for giving the feedback that I did.

After the interview I went to see Tim who lives nearby. His parents were there too, so we chatted together for an hour or so until they left, then Tim and I had lunch and chatted more until I came home. While I was driving back the recruitment agent called me and told me that I had not got the job, but neither had the other candidate.

Once at home I arranged the meetings for next week on the contract and set about setting up a limited company to control tax, banking and so on.